Camel wagon in the Murchison District

Camels provided a source of transport in the 19th Century, before the invention of lorries, trucks and cars. Teams of camels pulled large carts and wagons, across the sand tracks, the North cattle route, and into the Goldfields and Pilbara regions. Camels arrived from countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan accompanied by drivers who contributed to the cultural diversity of Western Australia. The Hamersley family at North Beach are associated with a camel station at that site. Star Swamp was a well known camel and cattle watering hole. Local author Maud Thomas whose family had camel teams writes in her memoir 'As it used to be' of the shock that change brought to the camel teamsters, when the motor lorries arrived. 'The camels were driven into the bush and the drays and wagons were left to rot where they had last been used.'